Transporting crates are usually used for transporting pictures in picture frames. These crates are usually produced from wood and contain the picture in the frame in the state in which it is positioned in soft padding material, in particular in foamed plastic material. Such a transporting crate is then usually transported in an upright position. The picture is tightly encased on all sides by padding material in order that it does not become damaged if subjected to any vibration or jolting during transportation. Transportation damage occurs again and again along the bottom periphery of the frame, which is subjected to the full weight of the picture and frame. Tightly packed padding all round a picture, moreover, has disadvantages in respect of constant climatic conditions.
Over the years, a fair number of museums have devised certain regulations for transporting their picture frames. The documentation “ART IN TRANSIT” provided by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in 1991 constitutes relevant prior art in this respect. Section 8 “Packing Cases” describes a “SAMPLE PACKING CASE NO. 4” which has proven successful in practice. The teaching of the present invention is based on this transporting crate.
The prior-art transporting crate for picture frames which has been mentioned above has, in the first instance, a base which defines a length direction and a width direction and is in the form of a plywood panel or laminated-wood panel and, glued to it, four side walls which define a height direction and are likewise made of plywood or laminated-wood panel. The open side of this wooden transporting crate can be closed by a cover which likewise consists of wood. All the surfaces may be stiffened further by reinforcing struts.
All the inner surfaces of the base, side walls and cover of this transporting crate are provided with a continuous layer which is made of a dense closed-cell foamed plastic and, in this case, is approximately 5 cm thick. This continuous layer serves the purposes of thermal insulation and of insulating the interior of this transporting crate. The layer of insulating material on the cover leaves free a narrow periphery all the way round which corresponds to the thickness of the side walls together with the insulating layer there, so that, when the cover is closed, the layer of insulating material is, at it were, fitted in and the periphery of the cover butts directly against the insulating material on the side walls.
The picture frame is actually secured in this transporting crate by additional frame-fastening elements which, in the prior art example described here, this example moreover being depicted hereinbelow in FIG. 7 of the drawing, are in the form of corner angles in all four corners. Each corner angle comprises an additional base leg, which is fastened on the layer of insulating material and is made of a closed-cell, foamed plastic material with good padding properties, in particular a polyethylene foam with a thickness of, in the example, 5 cm to 10 cm, as well as a peripheral crosspiece made of the same material on each adjacent side wall. The fourth part of the respective frame-fastening element, namely a covering leg comprising a corresponding plate, is located in the correct position at the corresponding location, in all four corners on the underside of the cover. If the cover is put in place on the side walls, then the four covering legs complete the other parts of the frame-fastening elements and leave free, in the height direction, a certain spacing between the base leg and the covering leg.
Such a transporting crate can only be used with a picture frame of which the thickness is equal to, or somewhat greater than, the clear spacing in the height direction which is defined by the base legs and the covering legs. The picture frame is always subjected to a certain amount of pressure if it is to be fixed securely in the transporting crate.
A further disadvantage of the transporting crate explained above is that, in terms of all its dimensions, it is suitable basically just for a quite specific picture frame. There is no serious possibility of altering it either in the length direction and width direction or, in particular, in the height direction, that is to say for the thickness of the picture frame.
One advantage of the prior-art transporting crate for picture frames which has been explained above, and on which the present invention is based, resides in its low weight. The consistent use of lightweight, foamed plastic material means that this crate weighs relatively little. This is extremely important, in particular, for transportation of the crate as air freight.
The disadvantages which have been explained above in respect of the transporting crate not being suitable for picture frames of different dimensions have already been recognized in the prior art. In a series of development steps, the applicant of the present application has developed variable transporting-crate systems which allow adjustability in all directions (U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,159; U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,118; U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,301). These transporting crates, however, require a stable metal structure at least for adjustment in the height direction so that, in comparison with the transporting crate which has been explained above, the weight of this universally useable transporting crate is increased.
Irrespective of this, in respect of the various adjustment possibilities which can be gathered from the prior art, reference is made to the abovementioned US publications, the disclosure content of which is also incorporated by reference in the disclosure of the present application.
Taking as departure point the lightweight transporting crate for picture frames which has been explained in the introduction, the teaching of the invention is based on the problem of making it possible for this transporting crate to be used to better effect for picture frames of different dimensions, in particular of different thicknesses.
The transporting crate for picture frames which addresses the above problem is distinguished by the following features:
A transporting crate for picture frames, having a base which defines a length direction and a width direction, having a plurality of side walls which define a height direction, having a cover and having frame-fastening elements which are configured as corner angles or side angles, it being the case that each frame-fastening element consists entirely of lightweight, padding, foamed plastic material or is provided with such a material on the surfaces which come into contact with the picture frame, it being the case that a spacing which remains in the height direction between the closed cover and the top side of a picture frame which has been placed in position, or a padding plate which covers the top side of the picture frame, is, or can be, filled by means of a heightwise spacer of the frame-fastening element, and it being the case that the heightwise spacer is coordinated precisely, in terms of length, with the remaining spacing.